Membership: Angelo Baldini, Franz Cadavus, General Jun Ching, Eric Gruning, Jurgen "Iron Hand" Hauptmann, Ivan Krushki, Gottfried Rothman, many others (See Comments)

Purpose: World domination, of course

Affiliations: Doctor Strange (See Comments), Master Man (Max Lohmer), Red Skull (Johann Shmidt), Sin (Sinthea Shmidt)

Enemies: Captain America (Steve Rogers), Sharon Carter, Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom), Falcon (Sam Wilson), Victoria Hand, Maria Hill, Quake (Daisy Johnson);
formerly Red Skull (Johann Shmidt)

Base of Operations: Castle in Helsingborg, Sweden;
   formerly the Isle of the Exiles, somewhere around the Sargasso Sea

First Appearance: (Seen) Tales of Suspense I#41 (See Comments) (May, 1963); (identified) Captain America I#102 (June, 1968)

History:
(Captain America I#103 (fb) - BTS) - The Exiles were a group of international would-be world conquerors who were allies of the Red Skull during World War II. Their exploits during the war and activities between then and the modern era are unrevealed.

(Tales of Suspense I#41) - After breaking out of prison, the mad scientist known as Doctor Strange gathered a group of international allies--"...the most cunning scientists and power-mad military men on Earth!"--in his plot to take over the world--some of these allies may have been the Exiles (See Comments).

(Captain America I#102-104) - Not too long after recovering from suspended animation since World War II, the Red Skull traveled to the Isle of the Exiles, where he was reunited with his old allies. The Skull had his men kidnap Sharon Carter and bring her to the Isle, forcing Captain America to follow. Cap made his way through the Exiles' armies; but after being surprised by the sudden appearance of the Skull, he was clocked from behind by another soldier. This enabled the Red Skull to apply a strip of "nuclear tape", which would force Captain America to obey him, otherwise it would cause him intense pain--in addition, if the strip were removed, it would trigger a nuclear weapon hidden in Washington, D.C.

   Assuming that controlling Captain America would give him control of the world, the Red Skull prepared to divide the helpless Earth amongst himself and the six Exiles. As they argued, Cap and Sharon Carter broke free and escaped, despite the Red Skull's efforts to stop them. The Skull claimed to have planned to let Cap go, since he still had the nuclear tape's detonator, which could reach Cap at any point on Earth.

   Sure enough, Cap soon returned to the Isle, in hopes of stalling the Skull while the spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D. (Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division) located the bomb. Upon arriving on the Isle, each of the Exiles challenged Cap, although none of them could wait their turn to do so. Nonetheless, Cap took them on and eventually defeated them. The Skull tried to use the detonator against Cap, but by that time, S.H.I.E.L.D. had succeeded in defusing the bomb, thus deactivating the tape. S.H.I.E.L.D. attacked the Isle, and the Exiles and the Red Skull fled.

(Captain America I#115 (fb), 116-118) - The Exiles learned of the sudden prosperity of an impoverished Mediterranean village and correctly suspected the involvement of the Cosmic Cube. Their agents stole the Cube and gave it to the Skull, who refused to share it with any of them. He dismissed the Exiles, and he went after Captain America on his own.

   Seeking a means to gain revenge on his hated enemy, the Red Skull used the powers of the Cosmic Cube to switch bodies with Cap. After allowing Cap to fight off a few attacks by unwitting allies, the Red Skull then sent Cap to the Isle of the Exiles, knowing that they now hated him and would try to kill him. As expected the Exiles attacked the "Red Skull" soon after he arrived on the Isle. However, Cap found a new ally in the Falcon, who helped him fight off the Exiles by sending in Redwing, the Falcon's bird of prey. Cap, in turn (after wisely figuring out that the Skull's "face" was a mask, and that no one would recognize him without it), trained the Falcon to fight, and helped him pick out his "super-hero" name and first costume. Falcon joined Cap in fighting the Exiles, and also inspired the natives of the Isle to rebel against their tyranny. The Exiles fled under a hail of stones.

(Astonishing Tales I#4/2 (fb), 4/2-5/2) - The Red Skull returned to the Exiles, and cowed them into serving him again by telling them that they were nothing without a leader. He then led the Exiles to Doctor Doom's Latveria, where they succeeded in taking over the country while Doom was out vacationing in the Riviera (yep, it's true). They used Doom's own soldiers against him when he returned, gassed him unconscious, and put him on public display in an "adamantine mummy case". However, Doom absorbed the sun's rays into his armor until he had the strength to break free. The Exiles attacked Doom, but since their natural abilities were just about worthless against super-powered armor, Doom defeated them quickly. Doom then gassed them with hypno-gas, which made them believe that they had become only a few inches tall, and then sent them back to the Isle of the Exiles.

(Captain America I#370 - BTS) - Red Skull kept an image of the Exiles in a room filled with his past glories at his private estate, Skullhouse.

(Captain America I#606) - The Isle of Exiles was visited by Baron Helmut Zemo and Fixer, who hired "Iron Hand" Hauptmann.

(Avengers IV#16) - Sin sent encrypted intel to lure Captain America to a castle in Helsingborg, Sweden, where the Exiles and Master Man waited for Cap and his allies. Cap took Carter, Hand and Hill with him to investigate. They were soon assaulted by Master Man and the Exiles. During the battle, Hand shot Ching through the head, and Carter shot Hauptmann three times through the chest. The other Exiles presumably died when S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Quake used her seismic powers to collapse the castle.

Comments: Created by Stan "The Man" Lee and Jack "King" Kirby.

The Exiles actually are the whole island of criminals, but usually only the six described here are seen. Only this smaller group made any further appearances after their initial story.

These characters were supposed to be old World War II allies of the Red Skull. They would have fit right in in the comic books of the 1940s. Stereotypes, Stereotypes everywhere...and not a drop of depth to be found.

Russia and Germany weren't that good of friends during and right after World War II, so maybe Krushki was an ex-patriot, or more likely, the writers brought him in the sixties because of the Cold War, which made Russia and America a little unfriendly--and the whole "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" sort of deal. Who knows? Perhaps these guys do:

• While the "Russians are EVIL so we'll have a Russian among the Exiles, regardless of which side they fought on in WW2"--theory probably is correct, he might be Ukrainian, some of whom fought on the Axis side after Ukraine had been overrun. Or he could be a White Russian (Czarist, as opposed to Red)... Actually, him being a White Russian would kind of make sense if linked with General Ching, who presumably is neither Communist or Nationalist, but more likely just a civil war Warlord (many of whom employed White Russian mercenaries). Or maybe I just think too much about this.
  --Hans Holms
• While Cary adds: Krushki was no doubt a White Russian who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II. But, General Ching was more likely a Manchurian Chinese who collaborated with the Japanese. Going by his surname, HE MIGHT EVEN HAVE BEEN A COLLATERAL RELATIVE OF CHINA'S LAST OFFICIAL EMPEROR! And, come to think of it, that would make a great "What If...?" story. *"What If General Ching Became the Red Skull's Ambassador to Fu Manchu?* Yours truly: Carycomix@aol.com

Thanks to Marvel's sliding time scale, these guys would have to be at least 65-85 years old to have appeared at the beginning of the modern era, as of 2001. Maybe they were exposed to the energies of Ian Karkull--no wait, that's DC. Gotta be another suspended animation or use of some extended life formula a la the Infinity Formula or the Elixir Vitae. Ah, who cares!? These guys are pretty lame, even by my standards. I did like seeing Hauptmann again in Iron Man.
My guess is that the Exiles used some of Baron Heinrich Zemo's Compound X to slow their aging.--Ron Fredricks

The original Marvel Comics Index lists the Exiles as the unnamed allies of Dr. Strange, in the credits for Tales of Suspense I#41.

"Intro: The Exiles (cameo: at least 11 characters, not identified, but six of whom bear a striking resemblance to the characters introduced and named in Captain America#102-104; accomplices of Dr. Strange)"

Here they are--judge for yourself.

The Exiles have an entry in Marvel Legacy: The 1960s Handbook. The first names of Cadavus, Hauptmann & Gruning were revealed in Marvel Atlas#1. The first names of Baldini, Ching and Krushki as well as Gottfried's membership were revealed in the Exiles entry in OHotMU A-Z Hardcover#4.

In Captain America I#112 is a flashback to Cap's first fight against the Exiles. The Doctor Doom vs. Red Skull story from Astonishing Tales I#4-5 was reprinted in Super-Villain Team-Up#15 (November, 1978). In Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America#5 (August, 2007), a flashback to the fight between Captain America & Falcon vs. the Exiles was seen.

Profile by Snood. Updated/edited by Kyle Sims.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The original Exiles have no known connection to:

• Exiles, the cross-reality x-group @ Exiles I#1
• Exiles of the Ultraverse, Rachel Deming's group, @ Exiles I#1 (Ultraverse title)
• Exiles of the Ultraverse, of which Sienna Blaze and the Juggernaut of the Marvel Universe were both members, @ All-New Exiles#1
• Exile, an extradimensional creature encountered by the Fantastic Four, @ Marvel Comics Presents I#64/3
• Exile, from the Realm of Exiles @ Nightmare#1
• any other groups or characters with similar names

Angelo Baldini He was presumably of Italian origin. He used his scarf to strike, whip, and bind others. He usually smacked people around, then tied the scarf into knots to finish them off. While he's doing that, his victims usually had time to recover, get up, and knock him out. Baldini presumably died in Helsingborg, Sweden, when S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Quake used her seismic powers to cause the Exiles' castle headquarters to collapse. --Captain America I#102 (Captain America I#102-104, Captain America I#115-118, Astonishing Tales I#4/2-5/2, Avengers IV#16

Franz Cadavus He was presumably of German origin. He used the "Murder Chair," which was a motorized wheelchair that could fire energy blasts--he had dubbed himself as "The Monarch of the Murder Chair". He's never been seen out of that chair, so I'm guessing it also functioned as a toilet. Cadavus presumably died in Helsingborg, Sweden, when S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Quake used her seismic powers to cause the Exiles' castle headquarters to collapse. (Comment: In Captain America I#104, after his Murder Chair was destroyed during their battle with Cap, Krushki carried Cadavus away piggyback-style when the Exiles fled, so presumably Cadavus' legs were disabled. --Ron Fredricks) --Captain America I#102 (Captain America I#102-104, Captain America I#115-118, Astonishing Tales I#4/2-5/2, Avengers IV#16

General Jun Ching He was presumably of Chinese origin. He was the only Exile who actually carried a gun, which is his only weapon. Initially, he contested the Red Skull's claim on America, wishing to keep it for himself. However, the other Exiles sided with the Skull against him, and he quickly fell back in line. When Cap first began to overpower the Exiles, Ching wanted to put a bullet in his back, but the Skull preferred to use his nuclear tape, which "...is simpler--and more rewarding," and, of course, it failed. He never actually shot anyone. Ching presumably died in Helsingborg, Sweden, when he was shot through the head by Victoria Hand. --Captain America I#102 (Captain America I#102-104, Captain America I#115-118, Astonishing Tales I#4/2-5/2, Avengers IV#16

Eric Gruning He was presumably of German origin. He used a whip as a weapon, which he eventually electrified. He was the first to link up with the Red Skull when the Skull arrived at the Isle of the Exiles--maybe he was just a big brown- noser. Gruning presumably died in Helsingborg, Sweden, when S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Quake used her seismic powers to cause the Exiles' castle headquarters to collapse. --Captain America I#102 (Captain America I#102-104, Captain America I#115-118, Astonishing Tales I#4/2-5/2, Avengers IV#16

Ivan Krushki He was presumably of Russian origin (See Comments). He didn't use any weapons, but he was very strong and was a skilled wrestler--he was a big fan of the bear-hug. Krushki presumably died in Helsingborg, Sweden, when S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Quake used her seismic powers to cause the Exiles' castle headquarters to collapse. --Captain America I#102 (Captain America I#102-104, Captain America I#115-118, Astonishing Tales I#4/2-5/2, Avengers IV#16

Isle of the Exiles It was located in the Sargasso Sea and had numerous defense mechanisms, such as electronically controlled "killer kelp," which entangled intruders who approached by water. --Captain America I#102 (Captain America I#102-104, Captain America I#115-118, Astonishing Tales I#4/2-5/2, Captain America I#606

images: (without ads)
Captain America I#104, cover ((from top, clockwise) Red Skull, Hauptmann, Cadavus, Ching, Krushki, Baldini, Gruning; (center) Captain America)
Captain America I#103, p5, pan1 ( (from left to right) Krushki, Cadavus, Hauptmann, Baldini, Ching; (background) Red Skull, Gruning)
Astonishing Tales I#4/2, p3, pan1 ((from left to right) Hauptmann, Gruning, Baldini, Ching, Cadavus, Krushki; Red Skull (foreground))
Avengers IV#16, p12, pan2 ((from left to right) Baldini, Gruning, Cadavus, Hauptmann, Krushki, Ching)
Tales of Suspense I#41/1, p10, pan6 (Dr. Carlo Strange, Carla Strange (center), surrounded by Strange's unidentified allies)
Captain America I#104, p17, pan1 (Baldini)
Captain America I#104, p16, pan2 (Baldini uses his scarf to ensnare Captain America)
Captain America I#104, p13, pan1 (Cadavus uses Murder Chair to attack Captain America)
Captain America I#104, p13, pan2 (Cadavus uses Murder Chair to attack Captain America (rear view))
Captain America I#103, p16, pan2 (Ching)
Captain America I#118, p4, pan1 (Ching)
Captain America I#104, p13, pan3 (Gruning)
Captain America I#104, p14, pan1 (Gruning using electrified whip on Captain America)
Captain America I#104, p15, pan3 (Krushki attacks Captain America)
Captain America I#104, p15, pan4 (Krushki puts Captain America in a choke-hold)
Captain America I#102, p4, pan1 (in submarine, Red Skull approaches Isle of Exiles)

Appearances:
Tales of Suspense I#41 (May, 1963) - Stan Lee (plot/editor), Robert Bernstein (writer), Jack Kirby (pencils), Dick Ayers (inks)
Captain America I#102-103 (June-July, 1968) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack Kirby (pencils), Syd Shores (inks)
Captain America I#104 (August, 1968) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack Kirby (pencils), Dan Adkins & Jim Steranko (inks)
Captain America I#115 (July, 1969) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), John Buscema (pencils), Sal Buscema (inks), Sam Rosen (letters)
Captain America I#116-118 (August-October, 1969) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Gene Colan (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Sam Rosen (letters)
Astonishing Tales I#4 (February, 1971) - Larry Lieber (writer), Wally Wood (pencils), Wally Wood (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Astonishing Tales I#5 (April, 1971) - Larry Lieber (writer), George Tuska (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Captain America I#370 (May, 1990) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Ron Lim (pencils), Dan Bulanadi (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Captain America I#606 (August, 2010) - Ed Brubaker (writer), Butch Guice (artist), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers IV#16 (October, 2011) - Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Johm Romita Jr. (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)

First Posted: 12/20/2001
Last updated: 02/07/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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